Gifts, granting and billion .. So Qatar penetrated the American decision-making circles

2018-04-17

Gifts, granting and billion .. So Qatar penetrated the American decision-making circles

From Washington, Khalid Al taref

The Center for Security Studies in the US confirmed that there is no doubt and no difference that Qatar supports terrorism, but the most dangerous for the United States of America is that Doha, through gifts, grants, and billions, could penetrate the decision-making circles in Washington.

In the same context, the Center cited a report, which was translated by the Riyadh Post, by Angelo Codevilla, an American researcher and honorary professor of international relations at the University of Boston, in which the American researcher confirmed that Qatar was able, through cheque-book diplomacy and billions, to influence and sometimes direct the foreign policy of the United States.

Codevilla adds that the Qatari influence is evident in President Trump's reluctance to classify the Muslim Brotherhood, which Qatar supports, as a terrorist organization at a time when the US president praises Saudi Arabia and its allies' attempts to force Qatar to stop supporting terrorists.

According to the US researcher, the State of Qatar is, in fact, supporting the terrorists in billions of dollars and through the media as well, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood is carrying out terrorist acts directly through its affiliates in more than one country.

Codevilla explained that the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Qatari state funds encouraged professors, intellectuals and bureaucrats in the US national security state to weaken a set of American values and priorities by indulging in their own prejudices.

By way of illustration, Codevilla revealed that while President Trump was about to lead the State Department to include the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, as many Arab states (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) have done, Foreign Policy magazine (March 3, 2017) and the Brookings Institution( 11 April 2017) have posted nearly identical articles which made the US administration reconsider its decision to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

"Some groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood only engage in violent activities," explained the US Foreign Policy Journal. "Therefore, categorizing the entire group of Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist would harm the participation of Islamic groups in the democratic process.

The Brookings Institution opposed the classification of the group as a terrorist organization, justifying it as a step that would encourage Islamists to extremism.

Codevilla also adds that Qatari influence in research institutions that affect American decision-making is evident. After the gift of the Government of Qatar which is estimated at $ 1 million for the Clinton Foundation on the occasion of Bill Clinton's sixty-fifth birthday, Qatari funds provided to the American institutions, such as the University of Texas and the University of North Texas, have been doubled.

Doha also hosts a branch of the Virginia Commonwealth University, making it suitable for the stationed US government officials to influence American policy in line with Qatari positions, while researchers at the University of Arizona receive Qatari funds, as well as in Denver, Pittsburgh, and Portland Rutgers.

The role of the Qatari business council in the United States, led by former US ambassador to Qatar Patrick N. Theros, should not be overlooked in influencing US policy and government decision. Besides, Dozens of Qatari-supported institutions are widespread in the United States, such as the Washington Institute, Brookings, where experts and researchers have access to large sums of money.